Planning your or your family's meals ahead of time is a great way to beat stress and save some cash. If you're not up for doing all that cooking alone, you can host a freezer meal party and cook with your friends.

Some people like the zen of cooking on their own in the kitchen, but others dislike it for the same reason. If you want to start pre-cooking all your meals for the week, but don't feel like spending those couple hours alone, Faith Durand at The Kitchn recommends a freezer meal party. Gather some friends and either shop for the week's meals together (and split the cost), or have each person bring specific ingredients. Once you're all together, have each person take on a job and make enough portions of each meal for everyone to meet their quota for freezing. Now you don't have to do it all by yourself and you get to have a good time with your friends too.